Tonight's Poet Corner: We Are Underwater

We Are Underwater
by Belinda Roddie

In the aquarium, I see the schools
of silver spiral in a tornado
above my head. The glass is the only
thing that keeps me from enrolling
in their little marine academy and swimming
with them. You grab me by the wrists
and pull me back so you can look
over my shoulder. Outside, it is very
hot, but inside, it is dark and cool, and on
all sides of us are glittering jellyfish
with tentacles made of spider webs but
barbs sharper than thorns. Outside, I am very
hot. Inside, you are cold, and pressed against
my hip, breathing in the recycled air
of the enclosed space where, when I look
around, I see the flashes and whirlwinds
of another world.